Loss of trust means members of the local community will find it hard to move on following Fife Council’s controversial decision on a new visitor centre for the Meedies, it is claimed.
A packed public meeting was staged to discuss the executive committee’s decision to press on with the £1 million centre.
Council leader David Ross defended moves to begin work on the centre, a golf clubhouse and pavilion, claiming it would be wrong to do otherwise at this advanced stage.
Benarty Community Forum and Lochore Meadows Panel had called for a halt to the plan which has divided public opinion, with many critical of the centre’s decision and failure to find extra funding from other bodies.
Consultation was said to have been flawed and that is now being looked at by the local authority’s scrutiny committee.
Michael O’Hare, the secretary of Benarty Forum, insisted no one in the area was against a new building going into Lochore Meadows Country Park, which attracts around 500,000 visitors a year, but it had to be a building fit for purpose, and its surroundings.
That was echoed from the floor, with a member of the public saying they didn’t want a Benarty Disneyland, just a centre which was fit for purpose.
Lochs Labour Councillor Alex Campbell appealed for everyone to work together.
“I am not going to make this political, I am going to talk about the Meedies – aye lots of mistakes were made but I firmly believe we have got to go forward and drive it to what we all want it to be.
“We are talking about a vision for the park.”
Former councillor Willie Clarke said there had been a lack of communication and lack of vision on the site, the biggest land reclamation in Europe.
“I think we have got to look ahead, there has to be an inquiry and we have to move forward and there has got to be community involvement.”
However Linda Holt, a Conservative candidate for the East Neuk and Landward ward, questioned how people could go forward as promises had been broken and people were angry and upset.
Community activist James Glen added the community could not move forward until it received real answers.
